Photo - Ponies in the wet woodland. Matt Edworthy

Chark Moor

​Chark Moor supports suitable breeding habitat for the rare Marsh Fritillary butterfly but there is currently no breeding colony. Our management, primarily summer grazing, is designed to improve and create more of this habitat with the hope that this endangered butterfly will colonise the site from Red Moor in the near future.

Chark Moor supports a rich mosaic of wetland habitat types including wet heath, transitional mire communities, Molinia dominated grasslands and willow carr woodland. Deciduous woodland, scrub, running water, springs, pools and ponds provide further diversity and habitats for other important animals and plants​​Due to the presence of these habitats and the suitability of the site for the Marsh Fritillary, Chark became part of the Mid Cornwall Moors Site of Special Interest (SSSI) in 2017.​The site is made up of two land parcels, and covers approximately 12ha of low-lying ground between two spurs, though only 3ha or so remains open. These remaining clearings have an interesting diversity of habitats for such a small area, and support a number of uncommon plant species and a large number of flowering plants of local interest.​The relative lack of any agricultural management in recent years has resulted in Chark Moor being increasingly dominated by scrub. Today, the main land parcel is managed as part of a Higher Level Stewardship Agreement with the objective of restoring and then maintaining the areas of open heathland and grassland through a mixture of scrub removal, burning and grazing management.

Chark Moor Ariel View

For details, or any further information on access at Chark Moor, contact Matt Edworthy on email edworthy@gaiatrust.org.uk